A Feeling Like That
by BernerMom
Summary: Hermione remembers her time with Marcus Flint. Their time before she screwed up and told him the one thing that sent him away. Now it's a year later and he's back. My first one-shot and first time posting a story.


_A/N This is my first time submitting anything I've ever written, so please be kind. I do love constructive criticism though. I have at least a half dozen other stories started, three of which are over 100 pages so far and no where near finished. I needed to complete something though, so I decided to take a chance at writing a one-shot. This is a song-fic based on Gary Allan's "A Feeling Like That," hence anything you recognize from that song belongs it's writers and composers. Anything else you recognize obviously belongs to JK Rowling. I'm not quite ready to let myself out there and create my own characters and stories yet. My gratitude to the powers that be that allow me to play in the wonderful world of Harry Potter!_

Special Thanks to stephalopolisO9 for being my Beta! Thanks for the support and feedback!

 **A FEELING LIKE THAT**

Hermione sat on her bed watching the rain beat down on her window. She couldn't tell if what she saw in her eyes was the rain or her tears. Merlin, how she hoped it wasn't tears. She had spent the first week crying over him, and the subsequent months rotating between cursing him, celebrating her ability to be a strong and independent woman, and attempting to date to forget him. She thought she was done crying over him. However, tonight marked one year of him leaving.

Wiping the tears from her cheek, she chastised herself for her foolishness. _'If he wanted you, he wouldn't have left. He doesn't deserve your tears. Besides, it's not like he ever promised you more. You knew from the beginning that he was never going to stay around. It was just supposed to be friends with benefits. A sexual release to get back at Ron for cheating once again. You agreed to no strings attached. So what are you crying about? He never lied to you like everyone else,'_ she lectured herself.

 _FLASHBACK (2 YEARS PRIOR)_

Damn it! When was she going to learn to stop giving Ron chances? He always came around after one of her break ups with her latest boyfriend and gave her some sob story about how he missed her, and he regretted letting her go, and that he'd never do it again. She always gave him another chance, but this time, she was done! In fact, she was done with relationships. Everyone she had ever dated only ever wanted to use her for her name, or to get something from her. None of the men she dated ever wanted her for her.

Hermione stormed down the street after having left Ron, once again, sitting with his new tart in a booth at the Leaky Cauldron. As she contemplated her past relationships, she realized the only good thing about a relationship was the sex. She would definitely miss having sex. Maybe she would have to make a trip to a muggle adult store to pick up a toy or two that she had heard about. Her fingers just did not cut it.

It was as she was contemplating these thoughts, completely oblivious to her surroundings, that she plowed into a brick wall. As she looked up from where she fell on the ground, she realized that it wasn't a brick wall but rather a large, muscular man. Looking up further and further still, she found slightly amused dark grey-blue eyes looking back down at her beneath messy black brown hair. Sweet Nimue was he delicious to look at!

"I beg your pardon," blushing, she said to the massive man. "I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"Obviously," he blandly stated, amusement still shining in his eyes as he eyed her as she sat on the ground.

"You know you could offer to help me up? It would be the polite thing to do," she told him tartly.

"I'm not always polite though," he told her with a smirk. "Sometimes I like to be bad."

"I see. Well then, fine, don't offer me a hand up. I can do it myself. Just like everything else!" she fumed as she attempted to right herself. He just quirked an eyebrow at her.

As she was attempting to pick herself up, she felt a crane grab her and lift her up to her feet. Flustered, she looked around and realized it was the man who had lifted her up like she was nothing. His hands slid down from under her arms to hold her steady by the waist as he looked down at her.

"I thought you weren't going to help me up?" she asked him hesitantly, unsure of his intentions now.

"I told you, sometimes I like to be bad." Leaning in close to her ear he whispered "I wanted to see if you smelled as intoxicating as you look."

Hermione pulled back from him in shock, but he kept a firm grip on her waist. "Perhaps I can assist you with what's occupying that sweet little brain of yours?" he asked her.

Looking at him, Hermione decided to take a chance and smirked back. "I can assure you, my brain is anything but little. However, maybe you can help me?"

"And what can I help you with?"

"Well, Mr.…I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met before," she said suddenly uneasily, questioning her sanity.

"Flint. Marcus Flint," he told her easily.

Hermione looked at the man in confusion and awe. "I remember you from school," she whispered to him finally, looking upset.

He looked at her confused. "I'm sorry, I don't recall you."

"Oh, sorry," she said embarrassed. She was so used to everyone knowing who she was. Plus, when she had properly introduced herself to people in the past, Ron and the other men she had dated all told her she was stupid for introducing herself to people who obviously knew who she was because of the war. This was a new concept to her, someone not recognizing her. "I'm Hermione Granger," she said nervously as she offered her hand to shake.

Marcus only raised a dark eyebrow as he reached for her hand. However, instead of shaking it like she expected, he lifted it to his lips and kissed her knuckles. "The pleasure is mine. Might I escort you off the streets so you don't trip someone else up who won't realize what a tempting witch you are?"

"I highly doubt I'm tempting…" Hermione tried to tell Marcus.

"I must disagree. Now, what was it I could help you with Miss Granger, or may I call you Hermione?" he asked with a smirk.

"You may call me Hermione. Tell me, Marcus…are the rumors about you true?"

"And what rumors would those be?" he asked intrigued at the direction this was going.

"Are you one for no strings attached shags?" she boldly asked.

"That all depends on the witch. I do have standards. One, I'm not interested in a relationship beyond sex. Two, I don't shag fangirls. They always expect more and that's not going to happen. I believe the term I prefer is 'Friends with Benefits'. Less drama and all the perks," he answered honestly.

"Interesting," she replied looking him over.

"Interested?" Marcus inquired appraising her as well.

"Well, I can guarantee you I'm not a fangirl. Also, I'm sick of relationships. I'm tired of being used and allowing my heart to be broken."

"Well, why don't we get a bite to eat and get to know each other a little better. One of the words in that label is friends, you realize," he offered as he held his arm out for her.

"Gladly," she happily replied.

That had been start of their non-relationship.

It had lasted a year.

Both were content with the best sex of their lives. Neither had the drama of a relationship and they had become good friends. To be honest, they had become best friends. Marcus listened to Hermione better than Ron or Harry ever had. He was actually quite intelligent and never forced his love of Quidditch on her. They often ate meals together, enjoying the easy comradery they had built. The nights were filled with passion, contentment, and safety.

However, that changed when one night as they lay in sated bliss, wrapped together. Just as she was drifting off to sleep, she murmured the forbidden words "I love you, Marcus."

The next morning she woke up alone. A charmed rose that could never die was lying on the pillow beside her, along with a note.

 _My,_

 _You have been one of the best things to ever come my way. I don't know what I would have done without your friendship this past year. I know this is the coward's way out, but I'm just not ready for anything more than what we have. I need more adventure in my life. You deserve better in your life. I'm sorry._

 _Yours,_

 _Marcus_

 _END FLASHBACK_

Hermione's eyes drifted to the rose that sat on her nightstand and another tear fell from her eye. A flash of lightning lit her room like daylight, startling her from her thoughts. It was followed by an intense boom of thunder. Hermione jumped at the shuddering through her apartment. She had just calmed her heart when she heard a loud pounding on her door.

"Who in the world would be out in a storm like this?" she said to herself as she pulled her bathrobe around her and padded out to the front door. Glancing out the little peephole she had installed, she only saw a large dark form. Palming her wand at the ready, she opened the door warily.

The figure that towered over her, slowly lifted his head to look at her. Dark grey-blue eyes bore into her own soft amber brown ones. Familiar eyes that she used to see heat, desire, and aggression in, now only showed fear and sadness.

Hermione gasped in acknowledgement of the man in front of her. "Marcus…" she whispered.

"My…" he whispered back to her.

Her shock was soon overridden by her own hurt at his lack of contact for the past year and she bit back at him "What are you doing here?"

"I'm so sorry My. I don't deserve your forgiveness and understanding. I'm so sorry My. I needed to let you know that. I know you must have moved on from me, but I just had to come see you one more time."

"Marcus, you don't owe me an apology, we had an agreement. It was just sex, friends with benefits. We both agreed to that. We weren't supposed to have feelings involved. I broke that when I told you I loved you. I screwed up, not you," she insisted sadly.

"No," Marcus said shaking his head. "I'm the one who screwed up. It wasn't just sex, for either of us. I got scared when I realized it was the same way I felt about you. I didn't want to love and thought I was incapable. I ran because I was so sure I couldn't love because I was always told I was only good for a quick fuck. I'm so sorry My."

Leaning against the door, Hermione sighed. "Come in Marcus, we'll talk. You'll catch your death staying out in the rain like this." Standing back, she allowed the large, muscular man into her little house. She resisted touching him, reigning in her immediate desire for him.

He walked over to the warm red-brown leather couch and sat down. Hermione took one of her matching armchairs across from him, crossing her legs and leaning forward with her forearms resting on her knee.

"Why now Marcus? Why did you come back now? It's been one year. How do you know I don't have someone new in my life?" she asked him.

"I don't. I just wanted you to know why. I realized how you probably beat yourself up for my leaving and I couldn't bear to have you blame yourself when it was my stupidity that was at fault," he told her. Then, looking up concerned, "Do you have someone in your life?"

Ignoring his question, she said "Like I said, it was my fault. I was the one who broke the agreement by telling you I loved you. So what have you been doing? No one's seen you, let alone heard from you."

"I went and tried to find an adventure, a thrill, something intense. I wanted to feel a sensation unlike any I had ever felt before. I explored the Muggle world, doing a lot of their thrills. I went sky diving, and scuba diving. I went to Spain and ran with the bulls. I drove a race car at unbelievable speeds for a muggle contraption. Then I tried some of the Wizarding thrills. I tried dragon taming and then even rode one of those giant lizards. Then I wrestled a troll, before volunteering to test fly the fastest broom ever designed. Almost killed myself on that one when I lost control and fell almost 200 feet and plummeted through the testing facility bleachers. Merlin I was a fool. I just had to find that feeling, My. I felt it once and I needed to find it again. None of it compared though."

"Compared to what Marcus?" she asked quietly.

"It was nothing compared to you," he told her sincerely, looking up into her eyes. "Nothing could follow up my time with you. I realized that it was you I needed when I heard a song in the muggle world. It was exactly what I was feeling. 'A Feeling Like That'. As it goes, it was with you that I felt that lighting in my veins and that thunder in my chest. Just like the storm we're having tonight. I've traveled all over this world trying to find it again. You're just a hard act to follow My," he told her, his eyes glistening with emotion as he poured his heart out to the girl who had captured it a year prior.

Unable to hold them back, Hermione felt the first tear breach her eye and roll down her cheek. "You hurt me Marcus, you made me believe I wasn't worthy of anyone's desire, let alone love. I couldn't keep a boyfriend, and then I couldn't keep you. I wouldn't allow myself to be with anyone because I didn't want to screw anything else up."

Marcus was up and kneeling before Hermione. His large calloused hands were gently wiping away the tears trailing down her cheeks. "Oh My, I'm so, so very sorry. I never wanted to hurt you. That was the last thing I ever wanted to do and that's why I left. I couldn't bear the thought of not being able to return your feelings. But I was wrong. I did return your feelings, I just didn't realize it. I love you My. I have loved you for the past year. I did everything imaginable to find something that could even remotely compare to you. But I couldn't. You're it. Loving you is the greatest thrill of my life. Please say you'll give me another chance."

"Marcus, I can't do what we did before. I can't be friends with benefits."

"I don't want that either, Love. I need you. You're my everything and I never want to risk losing you again," he insisted. "I want you to be part of the greatest adventure of my life My. I want to be in a relationship with you. I want to court you with the intention of marrying you. I can't be without you for another day."

Hermione looked at his intense eyes. "Are you sure Marcus? You can't just decide you want to leave one day."

"I know My. I tried that and I was miserable. I want forever with you. I want to wake up every morning with your frustrating curls suffocating me. I want to argue with you and debate things with you and see your brilliant mind at work every day. I want to see you lost in passion as I make slow love to you, letting my feelings for your seep into your every pore. I want to see you thrashing your head, and hear you screaming my name in bliss as I pound into your tight body, reminding you with my every thrust that you're mine. That's why I call you My. It's not short for Hermione, it's short for MINE. I never realized that until I lost you."

"Yes," she whispered.

"Yes?" he asked hesitantly

"Yes, Marcus Flint. But if you ever leave me again I will hunt you down and Avada you to oblivion! No one hurts me twice."

Marcus pulled Hermione to him and held her tight. "I love you so much My. I'm never letting you go again. I never make the same mistake twice."

Standing up, he lifted Hermione in his arms and kissed her as he walked to her room.

The next morning, the rain died down and the sun peaked above the horizon, giving birth to a new day and a new adventure. Marcus had found the greatest thrill of his life. He had finally found a feeling like that.


End file.
